Patrick Gilis is de CEO van Starbrook Airlines, een bedrijf uit Geel dat samenwerkt met de kunstenaar Jaak De Koninck voor een unieke lijn van chocoladeproducten: belgian chocolates gepresenteerd in een verrassende verpakking in retro-luchtvaartstijl. Deze originele chocolaatjes zult u vanzelfsprekend aantreffen in de tax-free shops van luchthavens, maar ze zijn even vanzelfsprekend geschikt als relatiegeschenk. Niemand weerstaat aan deze 'belgian chocolates' ! |
From the beginning of its history in Belgium, the chocolate was considered as a gift. |
The chocolate is prepared from the seeds of the cocoa which is a tree bearing large seeds pods. Most of these trees, initially discovered in America, are now growing in many equatorial countries. After the gathering, the cocoa beans are dried by the sun and sent to the chocoalte manufacturers. In the factories, the seeds are roasted and crushed to obtain the cocoa powder. They are also squeezed to make the cocoa butter. Then the chocolate is produced by the mixing of the above powder and butter and the addition of sugar and milk powder. The proportion of each component will determine the chocolate color.The black chocolate can contain up to 70% of cocoa. The milk chocolate containes more milk powder. The white chocolate is only made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk without cocoa.
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The chocolate manufacturers take care to select the best cocoa as well as the finest components in order to produce the Belgian chocolate - or " praline "- filling. Indeed, the chocolate quality is determined by the cocoa seeds choice and the components quality which give it all its characteristics (its perfume, its colour, its touch, ...) |
Chocolate Mousse Recipe
Heat the cream in a small saucepan. When it boils, pour it on the chocolate you have crushed before. Mix them until the chocolate is completly melt. While mixing, add first the butter and then yellows of the eggs one by one. Let the whole mixture cool down.
Whip the salted whites of the eggs to a froth and while whipping add progressively the sugar. Put this froth third by third into the chocolate while you are mixing.You may serve the chocolate mousse in individual dishes covered by a piece of orange peel.
Let it cool in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving it. Bon appetit !
Recipe for chocolate truffles
Boil the cream before mixing it with the chocolate. Cover it and cool it in the refrigerator.With the help of a spoon, make small balls from that preparation. Do not hesitate to round those balls inside your hands. Put them again in the refrigerator for a while.After having melted the bitter black chocolate, you soak the truffles in it with a fork and just after that, roll it in the cocoa.Keep the truffles in a cool area but not in the refrigerator.
Bon appetit !
Chocolate Cake Recipe
Whisp the eggs and the sugar. Add the melted butter then the flour and the cocoa. Mix it gently. Put the pastry obtained in a mold. And place it in the oven at 400 °F (200 °C) during 25 minutes. Check the cooking of the cake sticking a knife into it. The cake will be ready when the knife remain clean.
Let the cake cool down and sprinkle it with cocoa as trimming.
Bon appetit !